For caterers who don't have credit card readers

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twinsfan

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I recently read an article about a company called SquareUp which has launched a credit card reader and thought it'd be worthy to post on the forums. I don't know how many of you accept credit cards, but if you don't, this is a nifty tool. They'll send you one free, and as I'm soon upgrading to the iPhone, I may order one. It plugs into your iPhone/Android phone, and apparently there are no activation, monthly, contract, fees, they just get 2.75% out of all physical transactions and something like 3.5% out of online transactions.


It's definately not ideal, but with more and more people only carrying plastic, it might be a good service for your business. Just thought I'd let you guys know.


You can find their site here: www.squareup.com
 
Read the fine print about taking card numbers over the phone instead of having the card run through the reader. Especially take note of the potential delay in depositing the money in your account when taking large amounts. Almost all of my catering jobs are paid for in advance over the phone using a c/c so I looked closely at their contract and decided their program was not for me. I use BofA's processor First Data, and they have the money in my bank the next day no matter how high the amount.
 
My wifes' been looking into this for her business. There is the potential to increase manual entries. But if you take a lot of manual entries, deferring for 30 days is NOT a great sounding plan.

Some info from their site:

* If you accept more than $1,000 in card-not-present payments during any trailing seven day period, Square will defer depositing the amount in excess of $1,000 for 30 days.* This limit does not apply to swiped payments.
If you foresee yourself primarily making manually entered transactions and accepting more than $1,000 in a given week, write in here. We'd be happy to increase your deposit limit to an amount that works with your business.
 
A lot of food vendors use square and really like it. I've never used it personally, but I haven't heard many complaints either.
 
Last time I checked, there isn't too much mail order barbecue.

I think for vending, catering, it's a valuable tool, there's a lot of people out there who don't use cash and i'm guessing you're losing potentional customers by not accommodating them. I think it's worth the 2.75%

PorkQPine, I have read the fine print, and for swipe transactions it takes a maximum of 24 hours. Just saying

I'm gonna be upgrading to the iPhone so whenever we do school fundraisers this would help.

My only concern is does the reader look shady plugged into the Phone? like it's a scam>
 
I just received my card swiper the other day. It looks like a perfect means of getting more sales. It sure beats all of the other fees associated with accepting CCs. I'll gladly hand over $.27 for a $10 sale
 
good to know

twinsfan said:
I recently read an article about a company called SquareUp which has launched a credit card reader and thought it'd be worthy to post on the forums. I don't know how many of you accept credit cards, but if you don't, this is a nifty tool. They'll send you one free, and as I'm soon upgrading to the iPhone, I may order one. It plugs into your iPhone/Android phone, and apparently there are no activation, monthly, contract, fees, they just get 2.75% out of all physical transactions and something like 3.5% out of online transactions.


It's definitely not ideal, but with more and more people only carrying plastic, it might be a good service for your business. Just thought I'd let you guys know.


You can find their site here: www.squareup.com
Click to expand...



sounds like a good idea where do you swipe the card i do not have a fancy phone will have to get one
 
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The credit card "reader/swiper" that attaches to your phone is wonderful. My business partner and I do a lot of trade shows and most people simply do not carry a lot of cash with them. The most common question we get is "Do you accept debit/credit cards?" Someone is potentially losing a lot of revenue by not having this option available to the consumer.
 
They work great if you swipe but all my catering jobs are paid in advance via phone so I have to manually enter the card, plus all my catering jobs are over $1,000 so Square just does not work for me as a caterer and I don't vend.
 
PorkQPine said:
They work great if you swipe but all my catering jobs are paid in advance via phone so I have to manually enter the card, plus all my catering jobs are over $1,000 so Square just does not work for me as a caterer and I don't vend.
Click to expand...

I agree. It probably isn't for you. But for those who have a lot of "swipe" customers it is worth its weight in gold.
 
PorkQPine said:
They work great if you swipe but all my catering jobs are paid in advance via phone so I have to manually enter the card, plus all my catering jobs are over $1,000 so Square just does not work for me as a caterer and I don't vend.
Click to expand...


You can use it for jobs over $1000 but if you take the card info without swiping there is a 30 day grace period before the excess is deposited in your account. Example - you take a $2000 payment over the phone for a catering job. $1000 is deposited with in 24 hours, the other $1000 in 30 days minus 3.75%
 
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